Daily Archives: February 13, 2015

Ted Cruz may like to talk about the freedom of letting Americans live life as they wish, but it’s about as far from the reality of his viewpoint as the sun is from Pluto. In what the Human Rights Campaign has already referred to as a ‘shameful’ move, Senator Cruz has introduced legislation that could stop the marriage equality movement cold in its tracks.

Tea Party darling Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced an anti-same-sex marriage bill that would strip federal marriage benefits from same-sex couples living in states where only mixed-gender marriages are recognized.

Currently, couples living in states that do not recognize same-sex marriage can travel to other states to be legally married and thereby receive federal benefits on taxes, retirement and other matters.

Cruz hopes to put a stop to that. He is also hoping to reverse the gains made by same-sex marriage advocates on the federal level when the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was overturned in 2013.

While true that such heinous legislation has virtually no chance of passage as long as President Obama maintains the White House, it is still important to not that Cruz is so far to the fringe right that he is willing to harm thousands of LGBT couples just to win votes.

And to be clear, Cruz staking his claims against marriage equality may win support from people on the fringe, but it won’t do him any favors as a potential 2016 Presidential candidate. Most mainstream Republicans are coming around to the idea that marriage equality should be the standard in all 50 states, just like Democrats and Independents. A recent Pew research study found that 61 percent of Republicans 29 and younger support full marriage equality, and over 40 percent of those aged 30 to 49 have the same viewpoint. Trying to stifle the rights of committed, loving couples is not a popular position to hold.

As the Texas Senator rushes to get on the losing side of these issues, let’s hope other members of his party do not follow suit.